Using
options -C, -L, or -S, rxr implements the run-by-run comparison algorithms described
in ANSI/AAMI EC38:1998, the American National Standard for Ambulatory ECGs,
and in ANSI/AAMI EC57:1998, the American National Standard for Testing
and Reporting Performance Results of Cardiac Rhythm and ST Segment Measurement
Algorithms. rxr is the reference implementation of these algorithms, and
must be used to obtain the run-by-run performance statistics cited in EC38
and EC57 in order to be in compliance with the standards (see EC38, section
5.2.14, and EC57, section 4.2).

Input to this program consists of two annotation
files associated with the same record. One of these is designated the reference
annotation file, the other the test annotation file (called the ‘algorithm’
annotation file in EC38 and in EC57).

Stop the comparison at the specified
time (default: the end of the record if it is defined, the end of the reference
annotation file otherwise; if time is 0, the comparison ends when the
end of either annotation file is reached).

At most one of -c, -C, -l, -L, -s, and -S can be given as an option. If ‘-’ is given
as a file argument, reports are written on the standard output. If no options
are specified, rxr writes standard reports on the standard output (equivalent
to using the option -s -). The output generated by selecting -l or -L includes
column headings only if a file other than ‘-’ is specified, and only if the
specified file does not already exist. In this way, rxr can be used repeatedly
to build up a line-format table for multiple records, for further processing
by sumstats(1)
.

The -v option specifies that each mismatch is described on
the standard output in a format similar to: 3/5(120188-121065)

where the first number is the reference run length, the second is the test
run length (each of these is between 0 and 6), and the numbers in parentheses
indicate the location of the match window in sample intervals.